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Dog runs through tunnel
MTA security camera video shows a dog running through the Queens–Midtown Tunnel. The pooch got away from its walker in Manhattan and ended up in Long Island City.
NEW YORK - It's not too often that you witness a dog dodging cars in the Queens–Midtown Tunnel. In a surveillance video released by the MTA, Indie is seen navigating through traffic before eventually finding her way out.
It's all thanks to the quick thinking of several MTA Bridges and Tunnels officers, like Sgt. Orlando Caholo and Heather Minutello, who are now being hailed heroes.
"We got the call from 911 saying there was a dog in the tunnel," Caholo said. "Officers that were already on patrol stopped."
Caholo ordered all oncoming traffic to stop to prevent the possibility of an accident. Another officer, positioned at the Queens entrance of the tunnel, stopped cars from entering, while two others searched inside for Indie.
Indie's owner, Heather Angus, told FOX 5 NY the tunnel wasn't her final stop.
"When I looked at the Queens Lost and Found dog page on Facebook, there was a tip that a dog was running down the streets," she said.
Indie broke away from her dog sitter on the Upper West Side, ventured across town, into the tunnel, and then into Long Island City.
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Minutello saw Indie's flyer on the Lost Dogs New York Facebook group and told Angus she might still be in the area.
"Because she had so many flyers in Queens and that a lot of people were looking in Queens, I think that helped," she said.
Michael Ripinsky, a volunteer at Zani's Furry Friends Dog and Cat Rescue, finally found Indie a full week later, safe and unharmed inside a local warehouse.
"The warehouse had all the doors open. I made them shut the doors before I went to try to catch her," he said.
Indie now has a GPS tracker so that she never gets lost inside the Midtown Tunnel, or anywhere else for that matter, again.